This Message Is Perfectly Designed to Get Push Opt-Ins

If you find yourself behind the wheel on a journey that’s related to your income, you’re entitled to claim $.54 for every mile you drive. MileIQ is an app that tracks mileage as you go. No need to start or stop trips. Through the magic of GPS and certain permissions, it just knows. It keeps track of trips for its users, and with a quick swipe, allows users to classify each trip, so that when tax time comes around, accountants are happier, and users stay richer.

Today’s addition to our inspiration file is this in-app notification from MileIQ that encourages a push opt-in, doesn’t mince words, and gets straight to the point. When it comes to asking users to opt in to push, it’s a fine line between a desperate plea and a nice, straightforward message that might make the user say, hey, this might be for me. Here’s how MileIQ gets it right.

Why it’s smart: prime for push

For starters, they’re priming for push. It’s a smart move.

Push notifications, otherwise known as the potentially-most-annoying-and-easy-to-overuse type of notification, are actually a great way to reach users with time sensitive and urgent information. The rub is, you have to get them to opt in first, and that’s not always so easy.

Priming users to accept push notifications (or “priming for push”) is your best shot at getting users to opt in. When you prime for push, you present the user with a custom message that appears before the native OS’s permissions message. You get to make your case in an in-app message that encourages users to opt in to push for your service, instead of springing the generic OS ask on them with no context.

Priming is about more than just asking users to say yes. It’s about finding the right time, leaving yourself some room to ask again later, and possibly most important, being clear about the value of your ask. MileIQ is crystal clear about what they’re asking for. They do it simply, and in just a few words.

A picture is worth 1,000 words

This in-app message cleverly embeds an example push notification for maximum clarity. Here, the user can actually see just what they’ll be getting when they say yes to push.

One of the key tenets of priming for push is being clear about the value that push (aka, the momentary invasion) will have to the user. In this case, the app is showing the user how much money they’re leaving on the table. It makes a compelling argument to tap “allow.”

Universal appeal: Everyone wants to save that money

MileIQ, at heart, is about saving users money. They tap into this very basic human desire in this in-app message. The appeal to money is something just about everyone can get behind. We all want to be smart with our money.

Clean and simple design

There are a total of 15 words in this message (or 26, if you include the words in the screenshot of the push). Either way, it’s nice and light on text, uses just three colors—black, white, and the yellow from their logo—and executes its very clear mission with a minimum of fanfare.

Opt-ins are about trust and good relationships

When a user opts in to push, it’s essentially a moment when they decry, “Yes indeed, new app! I will accept potentially invasive buzzes in my pocket and dings in quiet spaces, because I trust you as a brand to not overuse the privilege.” Companies who regard push opt-ins for what they are, a privilege, are more likely to successfully make the appeal to users. MileIQ knows what their customers value—saving money—and they created a push, and an appeal to allow that push, that restates their relationship to their users and seeks to establish more trust.